BMW 7 Series four-cylinder not for Australia

Would you buy a four-cylinder BMW 7 Series? If you’re in Australia, it seems exceedingly unlikely, at least according to the brand’s local boss.

Confirmation of a four-pot BMW7 Series came this week when the company quietly added a new 730i variant to its Chinese and Turkish regions, assumedly with more to follow. In some markets, tax schemes incentivise the availability of small-capacity engines.

Figures show the 730i’s 1998cc unit punches out a healthy 192kW between 5000 and 6500rpm, and 400Nm of torque between 1550 and 4400rpm. Just for some context, the 10-year old E65 735i V8 had 200kW/360Nm.

Pictured: Australian-market BMW 740i.

In other words, this is no developing market special. The claimed 0-100km/h sprint figure for the 1755kg vehicle is a brisk 6.2 seconds, which is only 0.6sec slower than the six-pot 740i petrol.

Interestingly, it’s the same TwinPower engine as used in diverse vehicles including the Mini John Cooper Works and BMW 330i. Matched in this application is the familiar ZF eight-speed automatic gearbox.

But BMW Australia managing director Marc Werner said the odds of the 730i coming here were slim to none.

“In Australia we do not see the necessity to go into such a low range of displacement…. I do not see any advantage or opportunities,” he told us this week.